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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   2821 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for September 15, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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"I saw Akpu exhorting Babulal": "exhorting" is unambiguously an adjective(+verb).

What verb is it modifying?

Adjectives modify nouns. Adverbs modify verbs and adjectives.

Here, "exhorting" modifies "Akpu".

Sorry, that's what I meant -- the point being, how can 'exhorting' modify 'Akpu'? It's not a property of Akpu, it's an action being taken towards him. (ie. a verb)

'I saw Babu run after Akpu' -- you would say that the 'run after' construction is some sort of adjective? It's not -- 'run after Akpu' is a subordinate phrase.

As I said previously, "exhorting" is simultaneously an adjective and a verb. In its capacity as an adjective, it modifies "Akpu"; and, in its capacity as a verb, it takes "Akpu" as a subject.

Again, I am not a linguist, but that's how I model this situation.

Well you are wrong -- it's not even referring to Akpu, it's the action taken by Babu.

Consider 'I saw Babu exhorting the irritated Akpu on the virtues of ChatGPT' -- 'irritated' is an adjective referring to Akpu, whereas in "I saw Babu punch Akpu", 'punch' is clearly a verb. Your original sentence is like the latter, not the former.

You seem to be saying that, if a participle is active, then it must be treated exclusively as a verb, with no trace of adjective nature. I reject that assertion.

I'm saying that "exhorted" is not a participle in this case at all -- why would it be? (other than 'a robot told me')

We're talking about "exhorting", not "exhorted".

Here are some sentence diagrams.

Just because it ends in 'ing' doesn't mean it's a participle acting as an adverb; an example of this (which I think the LLM was reaching for, and maybe you) would be "a racing car".

Can you see how "racing" is describing the type of car (adjective) while "exhorting" is not saying anything about Babulal? It's a verb in this sentence; why wouldn't it be?

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